IU student radio station WIUX will release the names of artists set to perform at Culture Shock every day between Feb. 12 and 18.
Culture Shock, WIUX's 32nd annual outdoor music festival, will take place April 14 at Dunn Meadow and feature a mix of local and nationally touring artists, as well as food trucks.
WIUX will announce Culture Shock artists at 9 p.m. Friday at the Bishop. The free event surrounding the announcement will include a DJ set.
Read on to find out who you will be able to find on the Culture Shock stage.
Heaven Honey
WIUX announced Heaven Honey is its first Culture Shock artist on social media accounts, including Twitter.
Bloomington singer-songwriter Jordan Gomes-Kuehner, better known as Heaven Honey, started out as a drummer for the indie-pop trio Her Again for two years before going solo, according to 1212 Records' website.
Heaven Honey was one of the first two artists to be signed by 1212 Records, a new record label started by IU alums Collin Thomas and Brian Berger.
Heaven Honey and 1212 Records are also working on a new single and debut EP, according to the website.
"Gomes-Kuehner began working on what would eventually become the early stages of Heaven Honey — a unique and distinctly personal brand of songwriting that combines elements of dream pop melodies, folk-twang'd vocals, and hard-hitting, rock and roll instrumentation," according to the website.
Skull Cult
Newly-founded punk project Skull Cult was created by the people behind the Bloomington band Buttzzz.
The band released an Extended Play, "Vol. 1 + Vol. 2," with Erste Theke Tontraeger in Germany. ETT is a "DIY punk label," according to the label's blog.
The band is going to release more music with Goodbye Boozy Records from Italy, according to the WIUX website.
brz
Rapper and sound artist Elijah Pouges, who goes by the stage name brz, makes music with a focus on black millennialism and technology, according to a tweet from WIUX's Twitter account.
Pouges, who spoke with the Indiana Daily Student for a story published Sept. 5, 2017, started making music at age 9 by playing the cello. Later, he picked up the bass guitar and started electronic production.
His EP "Don't Overthink This" has six songs that explore isolation, connection, technology and black millennialism.
“It really is my stream of consciousness throughout my undergrad career,” Pouges told the IDS. “It kind of talks about my social interactions, how they’re mediated by technology. A lot about love and ruminations on love, meditations on love, that sort of thing.”
KAILACHARE
KAILACHARE combines rhythm and blues with an experimental electronic sound to create music about female empowerment, according to a tweet from the WIUX Twitter account
KAILACHARE responded with her own tweet to express her excitement.
Nice Try
Nice Try will also perform at Culture Shock, according to a tweet from WIUX.
"With sweet vocals and driving bass, they provide a perfect backdrop for dancing, swaying and lying on warm grass," according to the tweet.
Nice Try's newest single "Restart" is on Spotify.
Major Murphy
From Grand Rapids, Michigan, pop-rock group Major Murphy travels the country in a light blue Plymouth Voyager van, according to the WIUX website.
Its newest project, “No. 1,” will be released on March 30.
“No. 1” reimagines 70s radio rock with bristling sensitivity for our present era, according to the WIUX website.
Melkbelly
Melkbelly is a four person noise-rock band from Chicago. The band released its first EP, “Pennsylvania,” in 2014.
Its 2017 debut album, “Nothing Valley,” fuses dreamy vocal lines and cantankerous guitar racket, according to the band’s Bandcamp page.
A single from the album, “Kid Kreative,” revolves around the frustration of having to participate in a male-dominated music industry.
The music video features a kid stealing and eating other people’s ice cream, pizza and other food. The kid becomes overwhelmed and terrified at the amount and variety of food that slowly appears in front of him.
Joy Again
The members of Joy Again met in boarding school and founded the band in 2015. The band has played alongside acts such as Car Seat Headrest, Hinds, Daywave and Hoops, and has made appearances at music festivals such as 35 Denton, Savannah Stopover and South by Southwest.
The band released singles “Kim,” “On a Farm,” and an extended play, “EP,” in 2017.
Milo
Rory Ferreira, known by the stage name Milo, is a rapper and producer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He released his first solo album, “I wish my brother Rob was here,” in 2011, and has gone on to produce other records, some as Milo and others under the moniker Scallops Hotel.
“I tried to make something knowing that everything is pointless and nothing is meaningless,” according to Milo’s Bandcamp page for the album ‘poplar grove.’ “This is how you rap with a hammer.”
He has collaborated with Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle and Hemlock Ernst, among others.
Chicano Batman
“They came out of L.A.,” according to the WIUX website. “Four young men in vintage formal wear, playing songs that blended Brazilian Tropicalía with early ’70s psychedelic soul and the romantic pop of bands like Los Ángeles Negros.”
Chicano Batman released its debut album in 2010 and “Cycles of Existential Rhyme” in 2014. The band released its newest album, “Freedom is Free,” in 2017.
The band has performed at Coachella and toured with Alabama Shakes and Jack White.
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Heaven Honey was announced as an artist for Culture Shock at an event. The announcement was made on social media.
Christine Fernando and Clark Gudas
